


You Find A Heart and Catch Your Breath

by TheSofterGentlerMe



Series: The Lyrical Anthology [4]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, The Lyrical Anthology, relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24870310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSofterGentlerMe/pseuds/TheSofterGentlerMe
Summary: The Best Friend's Squad has arrived on a deserted planet to try out the ritual to bring magic back but for some reason it's not working. When they find something that they thought was dead and gone in their past what will it do to them and how will they make it through this time?
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Best Friend's Squad, Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Glimbow - Relationship, catradora - Relationship
Series: The Lyrical Anthology [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1767634
Kudos: 55





	You Find A Heart and Catch Your Breath

**Author's Note:**

> OK, here we go...

“There’s a WHAT!?” Adora and Catra shouted in unison. 

“A Heart like the Heart of Etheria,” Bow said. He was sitting in the command chair of Mara’s Dream and pulled up a screen with a graphic of the planet they’d landed on a couple of weeks before. A small pulsing object sat inside it. 

Bow pointed to some graphs next to the graphic and said, “At first I couldn’t figure out what was going on but after comparing the energy readings it’s definitely something like it. Entrapta could probably figure out more if she was here but it’s definitely reading that way.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, no! Check the readings again Arrow Bow because there is no way that there is more than one of those monstrosities!” Catra said while her ears flattened back. 

Glimmer came running onto the bridge covered in flour and brandishing a knife. “I heard shouting! Why is everyone shouting!? What’s going on!?” she said as everyone else jumped at her sudden, loud, and armed appearance in the door. 

“Uh, Glimmer, Honey, it’s OK,” Bow said. “I kind of just figured out why our ritual for the magic hasn’t been working. And happened to tell Adora and Catra and um, they didn’t like the reason.” 

“Bow, saying we didn’t like the reason with the tone of saying we didn’t like a vegetable isn’t maybe the best way to put it,” Adora said. 

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Glimmer said as she shook flour off herself. 

Catra was doing her best to control her breathing as she stroked Melog and said stiffly, “Bow thinks there is another Heart in this planet like Etheria had. Adora and I, we are upset about this.” 

As she took a deep breath she continued and said in a very even tone that her flattened ears and puffed tail showed was a struggle to maintain, “We will try to maintain a better tone.” 

Adora looked at Catra and gave a small smile at her girlfriend before saying, “Sorry for the shouting but it’s a bit, well, I think you can guess.” 

The whole group stood in silence for a moment before Glimmer responded. “OK, yeah, that’s shout worthy. Bow, are you sure sure?” 

“Well as Entrapta would say, the data is the data and it does seems to say that it’s there but I’m more a maker than a pure scientist. But those,” he said as he pointed again at the readouts, “seem to be pretty close to the readings of the Heart of Etheria. I will say it’s not anywhere close to the strength of Etheria’s Heart though. If the one at Etheria was a forest fire this is a candle.” 

Everyone breathed a little easier before Darla suddenly blared out an alarm causing everyone to jump again. 

“Attention Ships Cook Glimmer, your dumplings are starting to emit fumes in the galley. Please attend to them immediately, I do not wish my ship to be damaged,” the AI announced.

Glimmer gave a short shout before running back off the command deck. Adora walked over and took Catra’s hand before looking back at Bow. 

“So you’re saying it’s small? Maybe it isn’t a Heart at all and it’s just a First Ones’ ruin of some kind? I know I’ve mapped out a few around where we’re set down,” she said. 

“I actually thought it might be that too but Darla helped me in crunching the numbers and it kept looking familiar to me so I pulled up an old simulation from when we were first trying to deal with the one on Etheria,” Bow said before stopping. His face looked unsettled as unpleasant memories passed over him. He shook his head for a moment and said, “I don’t know how dangerous this one is but we’ll figure it out. And we’ll have time to do it because we don’t have, well, other things pressing on us.” 

Adora could feel Catra’s hand shaking in hers. While the moment under the Heart of Etheria had been the moment they had admitted their love for each other it had also been one of the most traumatic moments either had lived through. Adora and Catra had both been so certain of their deaths on that day and that they wouldn’t live to see the next sunrise, it had only been good in hindsight because of what they had come out of it with. Now, even without a Horde Prime looming to take it, the thought of that horrific device and that there could be another one made her shudder. 

Catra, noticing the shudder run through Adora, looked at her and then looked back at Bow and said stiffly, “OK, I think we will need some privacy to process this, Bow. Tell Glimmer to stick our food in the fridge and um, tell her sorry we couldn’t make it. Please.” 

Bow nodded and said, “Sure thing. Sorry, I probably should have handled the announcement better.” 

Catra assured him it was fine which with Catra being so tense it came out sounding angry. Adora, better at hiding her stress, smiled as Catra started to walk them out of the room, “It’s OK, Bow. Really.” 

Soon the two were back in their bedroom and Adora flopped down on the bed in the center of the room. Her and Catra had originally set up their bed by the wall but had moved it into the middle of the room after Adora woke herself up multiple times punching the wall hard enough in her sleep to leave bruises on her knuckles. The two women sat down on the couch and Adora found herself slowly running her fingers over the scar of the First Ones sigil seared into her chest as she leaned into Catra’s arm wrapped around her shoulder. 

“Are you OK?” Catra said. 

“Yes, yes, I’m…,” Adora began before taking a deep breath. “No, I won’t hide this from you. I’m not OK.”

Tears began to flow down her face as she sat up and looked at Catra. “It’s like a nightmare. What is waiting for us down there this time? What are we going to do this time?” 

Catra looked at her with tears in her eyes as well and said, “I don’t know and I say we don’t bother to find out. Let’s forget about this place and lift off this planet right now. Let’s just get back into deep space and find another place to try the magic on. It’s not like anyone is on this planet any way, it was always just a place to test this magic recharge thing out. There’s no reason to stick around if it’s not working, especially if it means there’s another Heart.” 

Adora took a deep breath and said, “Catra, I don’t know but I don’t think we should leave, not yet. We need to at least see what we can do.” 

Catra started to say something and Adora cut her off. “I know, I know but I promise, this isn’t like last time. There is no way I’m risking your life or mine. Bow could be wrong. It could turn out to be nothing. But if it is a Heart then it has a chance to be overwhelmingly powerful if left alone. Besides, Bow says this one has only a little power so it’s best to try and stop it now.” 

Catra’s tail twitched as she took several deep breaths and said, “Adora, I love you but just, no, I don’t like it.” She sighed deeply before continuing. 

“But I know you. You’re going to have to do something. So I want you to know this,” Catra said as she put her hand on the side of Adora’s face. “I love you and I’m going to be there with you. Also, I have a Horde stun baton hidden away that I will not hesitate to use on you and drag you back to the ship and jump us out of here if I think for a second you’re going to do something stupid like try and die for the world again because as I’ve always said..,”

“I know, I’m such an idiot. But that’s OK because you love me,” Adora said in a sing-song tone and a smile for the last part. “Who would have ever thought you’d be the voice of reason and caution?” 

“Hey, I’ve always been reasonable and cautious. You’re the reckless one,” Catra said back as she pulled Adora close for a kiss. 

The two spent the next few hours relaxing and reading before they finally went to sleep. In the deep hours of the night, Catra woke up and stared at the ceiling. At first, she thought it was another nightmare but the pounding fear that usually came with them wasn’t there. She couldn’t quite figure out what was going on, just that something felt off. After trying to go back to sleep she finally sat up and asked Melog to stay with Adora before padding off towards the command deck. The command deck was dark and she stood before the computer debating on whether or not she should wake up Darla and ask her about the Heart. 

“Can’t sleep either huh?” Glimmer said from the darkness. 

Catra jumped a bit and flipped around to face Glimmer who was sitting with her back in a corner of the room. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” Glimmer said as she stood up. “I’ll go if you want.” 

“No, ummm, stay I guess,” Catra said, feeling uncomfortable. “But yeah, I can’t sleep.”

“You want to go to the galley? You both missed dinner, I’m still on the roster as cook until tomorrow, I’ll heat something up for you if you want,” Glimmer said. 

“I’m fine. It’s no big deal to miss a meal. Did that plenty in the Horde on punishment detail. You get used to it,” Catra said with a shrug. 

Glimmer looked shocked at the casual way Catra talked about missing out on meals, especially as a punishment. Deciding she didn’t want to push Catra though she stayed silent trying to find something to say. The silence stretched taut in the room as both women stood looking nervously around the room. 

Finally, Catra broke the silence. “Guess we never really talk one on one do we?” 

“Well, I remember one time we did,” Glimmer said before stopping herself.

“Yeah, I remember that,” Catra said. “One of the few things from that place I don’t try and forget to be honest.” 

“Oh, I know why you don’t try and forget. You got to throw me out into space,” Glimmer said with a smile. “Gotta be a good memory for you.” 

Catra hunched in on herself and her tail wrapped around her leg. “Hey, I know you’re just, well, joking, but could you not..,” Catra said as she trailed off as she turned away. 

Glimmer looked alarmed and took a few steps towards Catra before stopping herself. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to be funny. I really appreciate what you did for me there. I’m sorry I made a joke of it.” 

Catra sat down on the ground with her back turned to Glimmer. “I know but when it’s one of the only good things I’ve done in my life…,” Catra said. 

Glimmer sat down on the ground just a few feet behind Catra with her back turned to Catra as well. “I get it. I don’t think I’d ever want anyone making a joke about me activating the Heart.” 

Silence fell again in the room but this one felt less tense and more contemplative than the last one. The two women could feel the other behind them and in the darkness and quiet it felt comforting. 

Glimmer broke the silence and said, “You know, I love Bow.” She was silent for a moment before continuing. “That’s still a bit weird to say but in a good way. Some things though, I have a hard time talking to him about. His family stayed safe through Prime’s occupation, all of them. Not mine. I lost mom, I had to fight my dad face to face and almost lost him. So much has happened to me over the last few years and I know he was with me through most of it but at the same time I feel like I’m alone and he won’t get it if I say anything to him about it.”

Catra nodded in understanding even though Glimmer couldn’t see her. 

“I get it. It feels that way with Adora sometimes. I love her so much it hurts but we took pretty different ways there for a while. I think she feels the same. It’s hard to talk with her sometimes though but we still try. We promised we would,” Catra said. “Maybe that’s what you and Bow need. I think it’ll be different though.”

“Why?” Glimmer said.

“Well, you two have been through some things but Adora and I, well, we were broken from the beginning. Orphans raised by the Horde, screwed up by Shadow Weaver, set against each other even when we were still on the same side. We’re still trying to figure out how to be whole and solid and we’re not sure what that actually looks like. But we’re doing it together. We do alright,” Catra said, not mentioning the arguments they sometimes had when they misconstrued something the other had said or jumped to a wrong conclusion. They always worked it out but Catra didn’t want to share that part with Glimmer. “You and Bow, to me you seem like you were whole but bad things happened to you both. But you’ve got that whole to go back to, build from. I don’t know, Perfuma would probably say talk and be open with each other. Also something about an aura more than likely.” 

“I don’t know what you mean by broken I guess because from where I am, it looks like you two are perfect. You’re both so cute together it can be painful to look at sometimes. Usually when you’re kissing and Adora suddenly goes She-Ra because that light is blinding,” Glimmer said in a teasing voice at the end.

Catra gave a chuckle and said, “Hey, I’m not apologizing for that, Sparkles. I’ve been dreaming of kissing her for a long time and I have no plans to stop. Get sunglasses.” 

“So you think that Bow and I are going to make it?” Glimmer said, turning serious again. 

“I don’t know but I think the best you can do is to try. And I can say from personal experience that you two sure don’t give up easy so you got that going for you,” Catra said as she leaned back a little and was surprised to find Glimmer doing the same. They both recoiled a little at first but then they leaned back again at the same time and scooted up so they were solidly back to back. 

The silence descended again. Finally Glimmer spoke, “You don’t mind…,” 

“No, I don’t. You?” Catra said.

“No,” Glimmer said.

They sat in silence for a while. Catra’s experience in personal contact was narrow and she found it odd to be touching another person like this, just warm and friendly. 

“Kind of feels like I can say anything right now,” Catra finally said. 

“Mom used to say that you get the real unfiltered person in the middle of the night,” Glimmer said. “I know some of the best conversations I’ve had with Bow were late at night.” 

“You want to go back now? You can talk to him, maybe tell him what you’re feeling,” Catra said. 

“Not right now. I’ve got tomorrow. Besides, I think he’d be confused if I just suddenly woke him up in the dead of night,” Glimmer said. 

“At least he just gets confused. Adora gets a little fighty sometimes,” Catra said. 

“Tell me about it. She actually pulled a knife on me once when she woke up! I didn’t even know she had a knife!” Glimmer said. 

“That’s my girl,” Catra said with a smile.

Then Catra got serious as she said, “So what do you think we should do about the Heart? How do we fix this?” 

Glimmer sat quietly for a minute and then said, “I don’t know. I kind of feel like maybe I shouldn’t be involved in Heart related decisions. I don’t really have a good track record there.” 

“Let’s just assume that everyone’s opinion matters on this one,” Catra said shifting uncomfortably as she thought about her own track record with world destroying devices, “and just try to figure something out.” 

“I’m a little surprised you’re wondering how to fix this. I mean I figured you’d all be for packing up and leaving,” Glimmer said. 

“Trust me, I am. It’s not like I have fond memories of the last one. Well, no, I have one very fond memory of the last one but everything leading up to it? Forget it. Besides, I don’t think Adora and I making out under this one is going to help any,” Catra said. 

Glitter snorted and said, “We’ll call that Plan B. Probably should talk with Bow on this though since he knows the most on it. After you two went to bed early, he stayed in here working with Darla. He might even have an idea already.” 

“You think maybe we should go back and get Entrapta? I mean, I know it’s not exactly a short trip to go back but it might be helpful,” Catra said. 

“Ummm, I don’t know about that. She’ll probably want to bring Hordak along as well and I know that he’s changed but…,” Glimmer trailed off.

“No, you’re right,” Catra said. “I’m glad they’re happy but when you put it that way…”

“Yeah, maybe we keep the potential super weapon away from him for now,” Glimmer said. 

“From both of them. And Entrapta and him probably could build one themselves anyway,” Catra said. “Probably completely by accident because she was trying to make a machine to, I don’t know, fold napkins.” 

“You think it was a good idea to leave those two loose?” Glimmer said with a laugh. 

“Well you could say the same about me,” Catra said. “So I guess in the interest of giving someone a second chance I kind of have to at least not oppose it.” 

The two lapsed into friendly silence as they leaned back against each other. Neither spoke and after some time Catra thought she heard Glimmer breathing deeper and slower. The last thing she remembered before drifting off to sleep was thinking that she needed to wake Glimmer up so they could both go back to bed. 

The next morning Adora woke up and noticed Melog spread out across the bed where Catra would normally sleep.

“Did Catra just get up?” Adora asked them. Melog stirred their head up and just chirruped at her. 

Adora shrugged. She hoped one day she’d be able to make some sense of it but she also felt rude if she didn’t talk to Melog since she knew they were sentient and spoke but only where Catra could understand. 

“OK, well, I’m going to see what’s for breakfast I guess. You’re welcome to come along,” Adora said. 

As she walked out into the corridor, Bow went hurrying past here. He saw her come out and skidded to a stop. 

“You have to come see this,” Bow said with excitement in his voice.

Before Adora could say something he was off again and she followed along. Right before they got to the command deck, Adora noticed that he had his tracker pad out. 

“Bow, what’s going on?” Adora whispered without even realizing she was whispering. Something about the way Bow was furtively sneaking up to the door put her into quiet mode.

Without answering Bow slowly looked around the corner of the door and covered his mouth as he tried to keep from laughing as he brought up his tracker pad to take a picture. Adora looked over his shoulder and saw Catra and Glimmer leaned back to back with their heads back on each other’s shoulders. They were wide mouthed and sleeping heavily.

When the flash from the tracker pad went off in the dim room Catra jerked herself awake and jump to her feet which caused Glimmer to wake up as she fell backwards onto the floor. They both looked a little horrified but that quickly passed as Adora and Bow began laughing. 

“Adora, I think we’ve been forsaken,” Bow said, trying to sound serious between snorts. “Our girlfriends have been meeting secretly behind our backs.” 

Adora laughed as she said, “It is the lonely life of the schoo-lair for me. I shall have to go back to and finish my quadruple majoor and have that as the only comfort in my life.” 

“Yes, you’re very funny,” Catra said in annoyance as her tail twitched back and forth. 

“Seriously, Catra, I can sleep sitting up if that’s what you’re needing,” Adora said with a grin. 

“It’s not what you think,” Glimmer said, then paused for a second before saying. “Wait, what do you think this is?” 

“That our love was destined to be fiery but short and tragic,” Bow said as he put his hand to his forehead. 

“You’re not allowed to hang out with Sea Hawk anymore,” Glimmer said.

“Come on, obviously you both couldn’t sleep and ended up in here talking. I just wish you’d set an alarm clock. Breakfast is late. That’s very serious, my Star,” Bow said with mock formality.

“OK, seriously, you’re really not allowed to hang out with Sea Hawk anymore,” Glimmer said, throwing her hands up. “Come on, let's go eat.” 

Her and Bow kissed and linked arms to walk towards the galley. Adora came over and hugged Catra and gave her a good morning kiss. 

“You know I’m just teasing you right?” Adora said. 

“Yeah, I know but talk about awkward. And now I have to figure out how to get that tracker pad away from Bow and erase that picture,” Catra said.

“Good luck,” Adora said. “He has backups. He’s planning on making a scrapbook when we get back about the trip. Is it OK if I ask why you were up late? I thought you went to sleep with me?” 

“Yeah, it’s OK. I did fall asleep with you but I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep. I came up here for a moment and Sparkles was over there in the corner. We were talking a bit about stuff and ended up sitting back to back,” Catra said. “Guess we fell asleep.” 

As they started walking towards the galley, Adora asked, “What stuff?” 

Catra paused a moment before answering. She didn’t think Glimmer would mind her telling Adora about Glimmer’s worries about Bow but the conversation seemed private and she didn’t want to betray her trust. “Well, one thing I can’t tell you about. I don’t know if Glimmer told it to me in confidence and I want to ask her before I tell you. I promise you, it’s nothing horrible.” 

Adora looked at Catra with a smile. “Hey, I trust you. Was that the whole night, talking about unmentionable things and then snoring on the floor?” 

“No, we, umm, also talked about the Heart,” Catra said as they rounded the corner into the galley. 

Glimmer was pouring out cereal in bowls and putting them out on the table while Bow put out some tiny fruit slices and milk as they entered and both looked up as they heard them mention the Heart. 

“Well I guess we should probably talk about that,” Bow said. “Maybe we wait until after breakfast?” 

“No, we should talk about it now, get an idea of what to do, and then… seriously Catra?” Adora said as she noticed Catra sliding up behind Bow and looking at his tracker pad slung on his hip. 

“What? Just going to see if he needs help with the fruit,” Catra replied. 

“Thanks, Catra, but I’ve got it all set out,” Bow said cheerfully as he sat down. 

They all sat down at the table and Catra quickly sat down next to Bow. Adora gave her a look as she settled down next to her that Catra returned with a way too innocent smile. 

“Catra and I talked about this a little last night but I wanted to hear what Bow had to say,” Glimmer said as they began to eat. 

Bow swallowed some cereal and pulled his tracker pad off his hip. Catra’s eyes focused on the pad and her tail twitched a little. Adora nudged her under the table with her foot and gave her a look again. Bow started talking while he opened files, “OK, so Darla and I went over some stuff again last night. Glimmer pointed out that if it’s a Heart, why isn't it highly charged like Etheria’s Heart was? It’s not new. If anything, I think the ruins on this planet are older than the ones on Etheria so this one is probably older as well.” 

Bow showed them on the screen an animation of a dim pulsing core in the planet that got a little bigger and then slowly dimmed again several times before looping back to the beginning. It looped around a couple of times while they all watched in silence. 

Glimmer spoke up and said, “Is that over time?” 

“That’s over the two weeks or so we’ve been here,” Bow said as he sat the tracker pad on the table. “It took me a little to figure it out but those parts where it gets brighter corresponds to the times right after we tried the ritual to restore the magic.” 

“OK, so it’s soaking up magic. But we already knew they did that,” Adora said. 

“But then why does it look like it’s losing it again?” Glimmer said. “Right?” 

“Right! If it was like Etheria’s Heart, it’d hold on to it. That’s what made that one so dangerous. This one isn’t doing that,” Bow said.

“Are you sure?” Catra said as she reached for some fruit. 

“Well… no,” Bow said. “But that’s what it looks like to me.” 

Catra crossed her arms as she sat back in her chair and said, “See, I don’t like no to that answer. Maybe try again.”

“Well, I think that first we should get more readings but not do the ritual. Then, if it goes back to that first reading in the next few days, then we know that it’s not storing it,” Bow said. “Then we can find it and try to figure out what to do next.” 

Catra nodded a moment and said, “That actually seems like a solid plan. I’m not happy about this thing but I say that’s a plan I can deal with.” 

“And I’m sure that it’ll go just as well as our other plans,” Glimmer said with a smile. 

Catra looked at Glimmer with a deadpan expression and said, “OK, I know that was supposed to be encouraging but seriously, have any of our plans ever gone off without a hitch?” 

“Well, no, but that’s what makes it interesting!” Glimmer said. 

“In a running, screaming kind of way,” Adora said with a laugh. 

Catra smiled at Adora’s laugh and stood from the table. 

“I’m going to grab another bowl. Bow, do you want one?” she said as she started reaching for the tracker pad next to Bow’s bowl. 

“Thank you, Catra, I would,” Bow said as he looked up at her with a grin. “And just so you know before you try and grab my tracker pad, it’s already in a secure backup.” 

“What!? I don’t know what you’re talking about! Try and be friendly and people cast doubt on your motives,” Catra said as she reached over the tracker pad and quickly picked up the bowl. 

Adora sat thoughtfully and ate while everyone else ate and chatted. Towards the end of the meal, she looked up at the group again and said, “So I’ve been reading about triangulating things using mapping. Bow, could you help me figure out the sensors location data? I think I can feed them into my mapping program, figure out where the Heart is located.” 

“Sure! We can do that after breakfast,” Bow said. 

“That’s a good idea,” Glimmer said. “Besides, it’s not like there’s anyone else on this planet besides us so we can’t just go out asking around.” 

“Yeah, maybe the first time to try this maybe shouldn't have been on an uninhabited planet,” Catra said.

“But this way we can make sure it works before we try it where there are people. It’s less embarrassing,” Adora said. 

As breakfast wound down they had Darla rotate each person's ship board duties. She had taken to calling each person by a title that changed with their duties. Her final assignment had Catra perk up.

“And Quartermaster Catra, you shall be Ships Cook Catra for the next three days,” Darla said. 

“Alright! Time for me to make some good home cooking,” Catra said. 

“Considering we grew up in the Horde, you better be talking about someone else’s home because if I come in and find ration bars on the table for any meal, I’m going to be unhappy,” Adora said. 

“Just you wait,” Catra said with a grin. “I know how to make the grey ration bars. It’ll be fantastic!” 

Adora rolled her eyes with a smile. Catra had started cooking when they had first flown out from Etheria at the start of their road trip and, finding out that she really enjoyed it, had quickly become the best cook of the Squad. As everyone got up and left to start the day, Bow and Adora went back up to the command deck. 

“OK, so I’m still trying to establish, ummm, a datum, for this planet,” Adora said as she scrutinized a screen with one of her mapping books in front of her. “But that shouldn’t be a problem for this. I think. Maybe.” 

“Well, I know how far away each of these is from us and which way, does that help?” Bow said. 

“It does,” Adora said as she tapped at a few things. “Let me try this. Darla?”

“Yes, Administrator Adora?” Darla replied. 

“Um, can you help me connect Bow’s sensors with my map thing?” Adora asked. 

“Certainly. Please give me a moment to review them and I will advise you,” Darla said. 

Bow and Adora sat for a moment while the small globe that was Darla shifted through a spectrum of colors to indicate she was working. Bow looked over his shoulder and then slid a little closer to Adora. 

“Adora, I’m worried about Glimmer. I think somethings wrong,” he said. 

“Why? Is she sick?” Adora said.

“No, but I kind of feel like something is on her mind and she isn’t sharing it with me,” Bow said. “Has she said anything to you?” 

“No, she hasn’t. Bow, why don’t you just ask her? Communication is key to a healthy relationship after all,” Adora said as she leaned against the console and tried to sound wise. 

“I love you but that coming from you is kind of funny all things considered,” Bow said. 

“Hey, we finally told each other how we felt,” Adora said defensively. “It just needed the right moment.” 

“Yeah, I’m not going to say anything about that. But I’ve asked her and she assures me that there’s nothing wrong with us, that everything is OK and I don’t want to pester her but it just doesn’t feel that way. I mean, we’re still a new couple. Should we be having problems already? Does this mean that things aren’t going to work out? Are we going to break up!? Adora, I need to do something!” Bow said as he started pacing back and forth. 

“Bow! Whoa! Deep breath! Breath in, breath out! I’m sure it’s fine! Just try and talk with her, tell her that you’re, um, nervous, I guess,” Adora said. 

Bow took a few deep breaths and then said, “Tell her how I feel, I can do that. Wait, Darla, are you finished?” 

“I finished some time ago, First Mate Bow,” Darla replied. “However, you and Administrator Adora seemed to be having an important discussion about crew morale and so I chose to observe in case my input would be required.” 

Adora looked at the floating ball of light and said, “And do you think it will be?” 

“No,” Darla replied. 

Adora and Bow sat for a moment waiting for the AI to elaborate before looking at each other and shrugging.

“Darla, did you figure out the sensors?” Adora asked.

“Yes, Administrator Adora, I did. I integrated the sensors as a point feature class in your GIS database and used the position data against your other readings and calculated potential horizontal and vertical errors. You should be able to use them with a high degree of accuracy now,” Darla said.

“Oh, wow, OK, um, thank you,” Adora said. “Could you maybe give me instructions on that so I can do it myself in the future?” 

“I have already documented the process, Administrator Adora, and you should find it in your database documentation,” Darla replied. 

“Well let’s take a look shall we,” Adora said.

For the rest of the day, Adora and Bow worked on getting a location for the Heart and taking more readings. By nightfall, Adora closed the many screens hanging around her and had Darla put up a single large map of the continent they were on. With a background based on photos they took from orbit when they first arrived it showed some basic cartography that Adora had added and a network of dots that represented the string of sensors Bow had been putting out since they’d landed. A star near the center showed their current landing location on the rolling plains and on the other side of the continent in mountains near an ocean sat a wide circle representing the best location they could figure for the Heart. 

“Well, it’s not really accurate,” Adora said with a sigh. “Only down to kilometers but at least we have an idea.” 

“Hey, that’s pretty good considering you just started learning this stuff right before we lifted off from Etheria,” Bow said. 

“Well Darla helped a lot,” Adora said. 

“Well I still think you did well,” Bow said with a grin. 

Glimmer stuck her head in the command deck as Adora shrugged and saved the file before closing it.

“Hey, Catra says dinner’s ready but she won’t let me in the galley so it’s safe to say I’m a bit nervous about what she has ready,” Glimmer said. 

“You don’t think she really has the recipe for ration bars?” Bow asked. 

Adora sighed and said, “Well she was chief administrator for the Horde for a while which means she would have seen a lot of supply stuff so it would not surprise me.” 

“There’s no way she was able to make them. Right?” Glimmer said.

“Well only one way to find out. Let’s go… to dinner!” Bow said with a flourish of his hand.

The three laughed as they walked towards the galley. They arrived to find the door closed and Adora knocked. 

“Babe? Can we come in?” 

A sinister laugh drifted through the door. The three looked at each other a little uncomfortably as the laugh raised some old memories and Adora shrugged. 

“Ooook, I’ll take that as a yes,” she said as she opened the door. 

Catra leaned against the wall near the table, her tail twitching in glee. In the center of the table sat an unwrapped grey Horde ration bar with a sprig of parsley on top. All three looked horrified at the thought of eating the grey lump of what could barely be called food. 

“Hey, Adora,” Catra said with a smirk. “Dinner’s ready.” 

“What!? You were serious!? I thought those things needed industrial machines to make or something!” Adora said. 

Catra threw her head back and laughed a happy laugh. 

“Of course I’m not serious! I have a few for emergencies stashed here and there and figured it’d be worth using one just to see the looks on your faces. Oh, and it was! Darla, did you get the picture?” Catra said as she laughed. 

“Yes, Ships Cook Catra, I took several from many angles and I have stored it securely as requested,” Darla replied. 

Catra laughed as she walked over to the main kitchen part of the galley and started pulling things out of the ovens. 

“I’m picking my favorite and turning it into a poster for the wall back home. Come on, didn’t you smell the food?” Catra said as she placed a few serving pans on the table. 

“No, I was probably too horrified at the site of that ration bar to notice,” Adora said. 

“Are they really that bad?” Bow said as he sat down and poked at the greyish lump. 

“Go ahead and try it if you want. Call it an appetizer,” Catra said as the rest of them sat down.

Bow looked at them then shrugged and picked it up. Glimmer watched him in amusement as he sniffed at it. 

“So do I just bite into it or like cut it up or something?” Bow said.

Adora laughed and said, “There’s not a lot of table etiquette in the Horde, Bow. We usually used utensils but you can eat them right out of the wrapper.” 

“Or just eat the wrapper instead,” Catra said. “Probably be more appetizing.” 

“OK, now I know you’re just messing with me. I’m giving it a try,” Bow said as he took a big bite off the corner and sat the rest down on the table. 

The whole table sat in silence as they watched his face. At first it was still as he started chewing but then it took on several different horrified and disgusted faces as he chewed. The other three began laughing as he kept chewing. 

“Bow, your face, I can’t, it’s just…, I’m so sorry, Honey,” Glimmer said between laughter. 

Finally Bow managed to swallow the lump and immediately picked up a glass of water to start washing the taste out. 

“Won’t help,” Catra said as he glugged the glass down. 

“Ugh, it’s sweet! But not like a pleasant sweet! Like being betrayed by sweet! Why is it sweet!? Sweet, why did you betray me!?” Bow said as he filled his glass again. “Ugh and it’s lingering! And how is it greasy and dry at the same time?”

Adora was doubled over with laughter and kept trying to talk but just managed to say, “Go on, try it again. Maybe the second bite will be better.” 

“No! I’m horrified to even know that it’s in the same room with me right now!” Bow said. 

“Glimmer, you want to give it a try?” Catra said as she picked up the rest of the bar and held it out to Glimmer. “Find out what true fine cuisine is like?”

“Oh, you’re too kind! But um, no, thank you, I think I’ll be fine with the rest of dinner,” Glimmer said. 

“Normally, I’d try and get you to try it,” Bow said. “But I love you too much to subject you to that. Catra, I can’t believe you have some of those stored away for actual emergencies.” 

“Old habits,” Catra said as she turned away with a shrug as she went to throw the bar away. 

Everyone got quiet at her feigned nonchalance. Catra noticed and looked up.

“OK, come on everyone,” Catra said. “Yes, I know, I still hide food and not even the good kind. I’m working on it. Now be cheerful and eat what I did make us or I really will break into my stash and hide it in the eggs tomorrow morning.” 

Glimmer snorted as she said, “I don’t think you could. Not because I don’t think you wouldn’t try but because I think the eggs would run in horror.” 

Catra laughed and the mood lifted again as everyone began eating. 

After some small talk about the day, Adora cleared her throat and said, “OK, so we kind of have an idea of where the Heart is located.”

The other three got quiet as she continued. 

“It’s somewhere on the coast and if I did the map right then we know where, to within about five kilometers of where. Bow said he’s going to move some sensors around, get more readings on the power, and I’ll use the repositioned sensors to narrow it down,” Adora said. 

“And then?” Catra said, suddenly serious. 

“We wait like we talked about this morning, right?” Glimmer said. 

“Yes,” Bow said. “It’s still losing power but we’ll be sure before we go.” 

The table lapsed into silence again. Melog pushed up beside Catra and Adora noticed Catra’s hand gripping tightly to the side of the chair. Adora reached out and silently placed her hand over Catra’s. 

“I hate this,” Adora said with hatred in her voice. Everyone turned to look at her. “It’s not fair. Catra, Bow, Glimmer, you shouldn't have to go through this again.”

She took a deep breath and looked down at the table so she didn’t have to look anyone in the eyes, ”No, you know what, I’ll say it. I shouldn’t have to go through this again. Why? Why do I have to do this again? Why? Do I get to rest? Ever?”

Adora delivered the last word in a quiet little voice before she lapsed into silence again. Glimmer started to say something but Bow touched her hand and shook his head. Catra took Adora’s hand resting on hers and gripped it tightly and as she did Adora began to quietly cry. 

Catra stood and wrapped her arms around Adora. Melog curled around their legs. Bow and Glimmer stood and came over and wrapped Adora in more hugs. After several minutes Adora started saying, “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” 

“Shhhh,” Glimmer said. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.” 

“No, I’m sorry, everyone has problems, I shouldn’t be putting this on everyone,” Adora said. 

Catra slid down and looked in Adora’s eyes as she gripped both her hands. “Don’t say that. We’re in this together, remember? I save you from yourself just like you would for me. And I’ve got your back and I help you carry the load just like you’ll do for me.” 

Bow said, “And you know we’ll do the same for you. Best Friend’s Squad.” 

Adora looked up at the three people that were her life and gave a weak smile at them. “Thanks. I know we should do this but it’s hard to face again.” 

“But we’ll do it together,” Bow said. “You two won’t be going in there by yourselves this time. I promise.” 

After a few more minutes they broke apart and while it was normally the cook’s job to do the dishes, which was fairly easy with an AI running the dishwashing apparatus, they all silently pitched in and cleared the table together. Catra started humming to herself as she put the last of the dishes into the automated dishwasher and waited for it to cycle through so they could put everything up. 

“What are you humming, Catra?” Glimmer asked. 

Catra looked a bit shy all of a sudden as she stopped. “It’s nothing,” she said. “It’s just a song that Scorpia taught me. She said she’d heard some people singing it in Elberon. It’s, um, it’s about us.” 

“Do you know the words?” Adora said.

“Yeah, I do but come on, I’m not a good singer,” Catra said. 

“Hey, you’ve piqued our curiosity. Sing what you can for us, please?” Bow said as he put on his best cute face. 

“Gah! OK, but just, I don’t know, don’t look at me would you?” Catra said. 

Everyone agreed and turned away as she began to sing. At first she was hesitant as she worked to remember the words but quickly she hit her stride and she sang to a slow beautiful tempo as her voice filled the room as she hit the chorus. 

“We must be strong and we must be brave, we gotta find every bit of strength that we have and never let it go,” Catra sang. 

At this point the other three had forgotten they were supposed to be looking away and had turned to watch her as she sang with her eyes closed. Adora had her eyes wide and her hand over her mouth in joyful amazement as she listened to her girlfriend sing.

“We’re gonna reach inside, stand together and fight, never let it go, we must be strong,” Catra finished. 

The only sound that could be heard in the room was the swishing of water from the washing machine as Catra opened her eyes and saw everyone staring at her. 

“Hey, you said you weren’t going to watch me!” she said as she looked away. 

“Catra, that was beautiful!” Adora said as she pulled her close. 

Bow was shaking his head and said, “It really was! I never knew you could sing like that!” 

“Stop making fun of me,” Catra said defensively. 

Adora leaned her forehead against Catra’s and said, “Look in my eyes, Catra. We are not making fun of you. That was wonderful.” 

Catra looked at Adora and blushed. “Well, I’m glad you liked it.” 

“You said that people were singing this? About us!?” Bow said. 

“Well I think it’s the Alliance in general but Scorpia said they were toasting us in particular afterwards so I guess. It’s kind of weird to think about it too much but I liked it so I learned it anyway,” Catra said. 

Glimmer leaned against the counter and looked off into the distance in thought. She shook her head for a moment and no one heard her say quietly to herself, “We must be brave.” 

She stood up and said, “Catra, that was beautiful. Really. So don’t take this the wrong way but Bow and I, we need to go right now and you should know why.”

“We do? She does?” Bow said in confusion as Glimmer grabbed Bow’s hand and started walking out of the room with him. 

“Gotcha loud and clear, Sparkles,” Catra said after them. 

“What was that about?” Adora asked. 

“I’m guessing it’s about what I can’t tell you that Glimmer and I talked about last night,” Catra said. 

“Well I still don’t know what that is but I think I might know anyway,” Adora said as she thought of her conversation with Bow earlier. 

“So,” Adora said, blushing a little. “Do you know any other songs?” 

“Why?” Catra said with a grin as she gave her a kiss. “Do you want me to sing something to just you?” 

“Pfffttt, no, of course not, I was just wondering,” Adora said as she tried to play it off. 

Catra pulled her closer and whispered in her ear, “You’re a terrible liar.” 

They left the galley as Catra began making up a song on the spot that told Adora about the different ways she loved her. Adora tried to hide a huge grin but was ultimately unsuccessful.

The next morning, Catra was putting eggs on the table as Adora helped her carry dishes over. As they sat down, Catra looked up at a clock. 

“I know we’re not real formal here but come on, I sweated over these eggs, where are they?” Catra said. 

“Probably worried you were going to give them the old ration bar treatment. Or it could be the thought of you sweating over the eggs,” Adora laughed as she sat down.

They sat at the table for a minute or so before Catra jumped up and said, “OK, you know what, I’ll just go and find them.” 

She walked through the corridors quickly coming to Bow and Glimmer’s door. She knocked a moment and waited. A little time passed. She knocked again and nothing happened. Just as Catra was about to pound on the door it slid open just a small bit and Glimmer’s head poked out. Her hair was a mess and she barely had her eyes open. 

“What time is it?” Glimmer said with a yawn. 

“It’s breakfast time, that’s what time it is,” Catra said. “Come on! I got hot food on the table, let’s eat!” 

From behind the door, Catra could hear a quiet snore. “Uh, we were up most of the night talking. I don’t think we went to sleep until just a few hours ago. Could you just put some away for us? Please?” Glimmer said.

“I’m guessing that thing we talked about, it’s good now?” Catra said. 

“Yeah, it’s good,” Glimmer said with a sleepy smile. “You really helped out. Thank you. Now, I’m going back to sleep.”

The door slid shut and Catra stood there in the hallway a bit dumbfounded. 

_ I helped out? Huh, _ she thought as she walked back to the galley. 

“Are they OK?” Adora asked as Catra walked in and put aside half of the breakfast to store away. 

“They’re fine, just tired and wanted to sleep in,” Catra said as she sat down.

“Good for them, they need some time,” Adora said. “I mean, this whole thing was supposed to be fun..,”

“And we treat it like work?” Catra said, finishing her sentence.

“Well it’s been a rough couple of days,” Adora said. “I say we deserve a day off from our vacation trip to relax. Cards after breakfast?” 

“No! You cheat!” Catra said with a laugh. 

“I do not! It’s not my fault your tail is terrible at keeping secrets,” Adora said with a smile. 

“Fine but I’m wrapping myself in a blanket,” Catra said. 

The next several days passed in peace as the four moved about sensors, worked on the map, and also made sure to find plenty of time to just relax. One evening they were sitting around the table after dinner when Adora said, “OK, so I guess it’s time I said it. I think I’ve got the Heart’s location pinpointed. Well if the pin marking the location was a little under a kilometer wide. And you couldn’t quite tell just how big the pin was because it’s three thousand kilometers away, I think. I’m still new to this so it’s a bit hard to, um, pin down. Am I saying pin a lot?”

Everyone quieted down as Bow said, “And I’ve been working on the power readings. It’s definitely lost power. In fact, I think if anything, it’s a bit less powerful then when I first started recording it.”

“So it’s losing power? We can just forget about it?” Catra said hopefully. 

Adora sighed and said, “I wish. I still think we need to at least go and check it out. Because if there is this one, there’s probably…,” 

Adora trailed off into silence and Glimmer said, “There’s probably others around the universe, aren't there?” 

Bow nodded his head. “I hope not but it won’t hurt to go and study it a little and then dismantle it if we can.” 

“Well the plan was to pin down if that thing is holding on to power and pinpoint its location,” Catra said as she stopped for a minute and shook her head. “Dang it, Adora, now I’m doing the pin thing. Anyway! What I’m saying is we’re in need of another plan.” 

Glimmer nodded along and said, “I agree and here’s my thoughts. We pack up all the sensors and head out towards it and we can take readings along the way. Then when we get there, we take some more readings, look around the place, and at that point, we should have a clue.” 

“Why would we take readings along the way? It shouldn’t take that long to get there,” Catra said.

“Well it’s three thousand kilometers Adora said,” Glimmer said. “It’s going to take a while to hike there.” 

Everyone was silent as they stared at Glimmer.

“Ummmm, Glimmer, Star, Honey, you do know that’s…,” Bow started to reply before trailing off.

“What? It’d be fun!” Glimmer said. 

“Are you serious!?” Catra said.

“Pfffftttt, no!” Glimmer finally said with a laugh. “I’m fully expecting to have Darla take us there in the ship.” 

“Oh, thank goodness,” Adora said with a sigh. “I thought you’d lost it.”

Catra was looking thoughtful when she said, “OK, so we’re going in the ship, but here’s an idea. Why don’t we go to orbit first? We can hang out over the site and do recon from up there. Adora, you think you could figure out a precise location from orbital photos?”

“Absolutely! I’ll get the pin down to pin size!” Adora said. 

“OK, I think we’ve got pins covered,” Bow said. “I can run out and get the sensors then we can lift tonight if we want.”

“I don’t see why not,” Glimmer said. 

“I miss space so I’m definitely ready,” Catra said.

“I like the idea,” Adora said. “Darla? Is there anything to keep us from going to space today?” 

“No, Administrator Adora,” Darla’s voice said as it came through a speaker. “I will prepare the Mara’s Dream for liftoff and will be ready to lift as soon as you are ready.” 

“Then we are going to space today,” Adora said. 

Later that evening, after collecting everything, they lifted off. Soon the view outside was one of sharp, bright stars instead of the rolling prairie they had been seeing. The ship slowly orbited the planet while everyone went to bed. It was early morning when Adora walked onto the command deck, still dressed in what she’d gone to bed in. 

“Good morning, Darla,” Adora said as she looked out at the planet below. 

“Good morning, Administrator Adora,” Darla replied. “I will be boosting us to a stationary orbit over the site soon. Is there something I can assist you with?”

“No, I just didn’t sleep well,” Adora said. “I knew sunrise would be coming at the site soon. I wanted to get a look.” 

“I can set up a series of photo passes in multiple spectrums for you if you would like,” Darla said. “And set up a magnified view for you.” 

“Thanks, Darla, I’d like that,” Adora said. 

A little time passed and a screen popped up in front of Adora. She could see the landscape as if she was in a plane flying high overhead as the mountains capped in snow scrolled past. Suddenly, Adora noticed a deep crater in a wide valley. 

“What direction is this from the site, Darla?” Adora asked as it slowly scrolled more fully into view.

“It is east and 50 kilometers from the site,” Darla said. 

“Take a picture, please,” Adora said as the crater more fully came into view. 

“That doesn’t look like it’s old, Darla,” Adora said. 

“I agree, Administrator Adora,” Darla replied. “According to a geology database I have accessed, everything around it seems to be weathered and the valley is broad as if formed by glaciers. This feature does not fit that sequence of events.” 

As Adora watched it slide out of view, she pulled up the photo on another screen. She and Darla did a few quick calculations.

“Is that right?” Adora said.

“I have checked your calculations, Administrator Adora, and have done my own as well,” Darla said. “The crater is approximately 2.12 kilometers wide at the estimated widest point.”

“What caused that?” Adora said looking in amazement at the huge crater. 

“Unknown, Administrator Adora,” Darla replied. “Do you wish to go back and view it more?” 

“No, but make a note of where it is, please,” Adora said. “That’s pretty close to where we’re headed and I’m feeling like it can’t be a coincidence.” 

After they arrived overhead of the suspected location, it took several days to get readings and get the area figured out. After reviewing everything one morning, they all stood on the command deck and looked at an overhead photo of a First Ones structure.

“What is it with First Ones and giant spiky crystal buildings?” Catra said as they looked at the structure sitting in the snow and towering over the pine trees around it, its shadow thrown down a hill towards a rocky beach. 

“It does make them easy to locate,” Bow said. 

“Well, we can set down over here,” Glimmer said pointing at a clearing close by to it. “Shouldn’t be that far a walk.”

“Are we ready to set down?” Adora said. Catra could hear the apprehension in her voice.

“Well, the readings show that the Heart hasn’t really changed any since the last time. I think this is its base state at this point,” Bow said as he checked his charts. 

Adora took a deep breath before speaking and stood up tall. “Then we set down this morning.”

Catra looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes as Glimmer said, “Are you sure? Maybe we should wait and check it out a bit longer.” 

“There’s no point in putting this off,” Adora said. 

“I’m going to go get ready then,” Catra said as she abruptly turned and walked off the command deck. 

“Is she OK?” Bow said after they left. 

Adora, watching Catra go, nodded without speaking and then went back to looking at the map. Glimmer and Bow exchanged a look but decided against saying anything. Finally, Adora spoke to Darla and gave her a landing location. 

“Administrator Adora, please be aware that it appears a storm system is coming in from the ocean. It will arrive in roughly twenty hours from your estimated touchdown. Ambient temperature at your chosen landing location is currently -18 Celsius. The storm is warmer but still below zero. This indicates that any precipitation will fall as snow,” Darla said.

“Will that keep you from lifting off the Mara’s Dream if we need you to, Darla?” Adora said. 

“Negative, Administrator Adora. My ship’s operating parameters are within that range and ships systems should not be affected. However, it is at the outer edge of your operating parameters and your systems will be affected,” Darla said. “I express my concern.”

The three stopped and looked at the slowly moving globe over the console. The AI had always been friendly but it had always felt like a pre-programmed kind of friendly, the kind with no heart behind it. This felt different but they couldn’t quite say why. 

“Well, ummm, thank you, Darla,” Adora said. “But we’ve packed equipment for many different kinds of climates. We should be OK. We’ll stay in contact.”

“Thank you, Administrator Adora,” Darla said. 

The landing itself went smoothly and soon they stood at the top of the ramp to the ground. The air was cold and clear and hills rose around them covered in trees. Animal tracks covered the ground near the tree line. Each person carried a backpack and was covered in thick winter clothes.

“Are we ready for this?” Bow said. 

Catra stood with her hood down and her ears twitching, listening to the forest around them as she said with irritation and barely concealed fear in her voice, “No, but we’re obviously going to do this anyway because of course we are. Adora, stay in the middle right behind me. Glimmer, behind her, use whatever magic you can if anything goes sideways. I’m point. Bow, you’re Tail End Charlie. If anything goes the slightest bit wrong, we use the maximum amount of force to break contact with any danger and leave immediately. Am I understood?”

“Ummm, no? Who’s Charlie?” Bow said with his hand raised.

“The back, Bow, you’re in the back because you have your bow. If anything threatens us, you cover us as we fall back,” Catra said. 

“Catra, maybe I should take the back,” Adora said. “We keep them in the middle for the range and I can use She-Ra so if it gets rough I can give cover so everyone can fall back.”

Catra looked long and hard at Adora as she nervously rubbed her left hand up and down her right side as she thought for a moment. She took a breath to control herself and said, “No, I want you behind me. You’ll protect Glimmer if she needs to cast and you’ve got the map as well.”

“Hey, does it need to be this complex? We’re just going for a short walk through the woods,” Glimmer said. 

“Yes it does, because we do not know what is out there and I’m not just going to go dancing into it,” Catra said, trying not to snap the words out. “Now let’s go.”

Glimmer looked around as Catra started to walk down the ramp and said, “Is Melog not coming?” 

“No, I don’t want to put them in danger if I don’t have to,” Catra said without turning around as she stepped off into the snow and started walking. The others looked at each other with a bit of confusion, shrugged and walked after her in the order Catra had said. 

The air was frigid but in the forest, where the trees blocked most of the wind, it wasn’t so bad. There was little undergrowth in the shadows of the tall trees so they could see for long distances under the canopy and it was quiet under the trees except for the faint squeaking of the snow as they walked. Catra was constantly looking around and stopping to listen. Adora had felt uneasy at the start of the day but she had made sure to go over the maps and readings several times to ease her mind. Now, watching Catra, she was now more on edge than she’d felt in a while. Bow and Glimmer could see the tenseness of the two and it bled over into them as well. When they finally reached the bottom of the hill where the First Ones ruin stood on, all four were very alert and also very, very tense. 

Catra gathered them up behind some rocks, shed her pack, slipped a pair of binoculars into her pocket, and whispered to them, “OK, you three wait here. I’m the stealthiest of us all, I’m going up the hill to take a look around. I’ll be back in twenty minutes. If I’m not, get back to Mara’s Dream and get out of here.”

Adora looked horrified at the thought of leaving Catra behind as she whispered back hotly, “Absolutely not! Catra, I know you’re nervous and trying to be protective but you’re not my commanding officer! You can’t tell me to do that and expect that I’ll do it! I’m not leaving anyone behind!” 

“How about I go up with you?” Glimmer whispered. “I can do stealthy.”

Catra again nervously rubbed her side as she said, “No. I’m going alone. But OK, if I’m not back in twenty minutes, come look for me I guess. I won’t be here, I can’t stop you.” 

“Why are we whispering?” Bow said. Glimmer reached out and took his hand as Adora looked at Catra.

“Catra, what is wrong?” Adora said. 

“You know I didn’t want to do this but we are and I’m trying to be accepting of that. That doesn’t mean I have to like it, and I don’t, but that does mean that I will use every ounce of the knowledge I have to keep us safe,” Catra said as she reached out to put her hand on Adora’s shoulder. “To keep you safe.” 

It was silent for a moment and Adora started to lean forward to hug Catra when Catra shook her head. 

“Not right now. I love you, I’ll see you soon,” she said as she went around the rocks and started up the hill. The three peaked around the rocks but Catra seemed to melt into the landscape and was gone from sight quickly. Bow pulled out his tracker pad and started a timer. 

“Twenty minutes from now,” he said. 

Glimmer took a moment to pull a small radio out of her pocket and called Darla to let her know where they were as Adora gave her the position from the map. Then they settled down to wait in tense silence. Adora strained her ears for any sign and peaked around the rock trying to spot any sign of Catra. After a few minutes had passed Glimmer laid her hand on Adora’s and quietly said, “Hey, take a breath. You’re shaking.” 

“I’m just cold,” Adora said as she once again peaked around the rocks.

“No, you’re not,” Glimmer said. “I’ve seen you cold. This is something else.”

Adora took a deep breath and said, “Fine, I’m scared.”

“Catra has got through a lot, she’s a survivor,” Bow said. 

“That’s not all I’m scared about,” Adora said. “That’s just the top of the list right now. How long has she been gone?”

“Thirteen minutes,” Bow said. “And it’s the Heart isn’t it?”

“It is and what we might end up facing down there,” Adora said as she remembered the First Ones’ guardian that had almost killed her and Catra. “And of course we don’t know anything about this.”

“Has that ever stopped us before?” Glimmer said with a smile.

“No,” Adora said. “But, well, I’ve got more to lose now.” 

Glimmer pulled Bow close as she said, “We all do.”

They fell silent again as they waited in the cold and silent forest. Bow sat and looked at his tracker pad and Adora tried her hardest not to look as well as the numbers counted down. 

“Nineteen minutes,” Bow said. 

“As soon as it hits twenty, we go. I’m not leaving her alone up there a second longer than I have to,” Adora said as she tensed her hand in preparation of transforming to She-Ra. 

“I love you too,” Catra said from behind them as she came out from behind a tree and scooted low and quick over to them. 

“How in the world did you get behind us?” Glimmer said as Catra gave Adora a quick kiss on the cheek before moving away to look over the rocks up the hill for a moment. 

“I told you I was the stealthiest of us, Sparkles,” Catra said with a grin as she turned back to face everyone. “OK, so I got to the top pretty fast. There’s a clearing all around it and a path that goes straight up to the front of it. The path was clear of snow and it runs down the front of the hill towards the beach as far as I can tell. It all seems pretty straightforward except here’s the part I really don’t like. The front door, it’s open.” 

“Like cracked?” Bow said.

“No, wide open. Almost inviting. I really don’t like it,” Catra said, dropping back into the nerves and seriousness.

“Do we go or not?” Glimmer said.

“Catra, did you see anything that says we shouldn’t at least all go up and look?” Adora said. 

Catra thought for a moment before she shook her head, “No, I didn’t. I really want to lie and say I did but let’s be honest, that’d probably not stop anyone. So we’re going up there, same marching order. We’ll stop at the edge of the clearing and get another look. Let’s go.”

Catra grabbed her pack and was up and around the rocks and moving almost before she finished her last sentence and the others fell in behind her. Again, the tension was thick as they slowly and carefully went up the hill. Time seemed to stretch out in the woods but after a while Adora realized that they had been going up the hill longer than Catra had taken to get up, look around, and then get back down.

“Catra,” Adora whispered. “What’s taking so long? Shouldn’t we be there already?”

“We’re almost there,” Catra whispered back. “It’s just taking longer because there’s more of us.” 

Adora looked at the back of Catra’s head and thought that didn’t seem quite right but they began to see light peeking through the trees in front of them. 

“We’re almost there,” Catra said. “Low and slow now.” 

They all crouched and moved up until they were just a little ways from the edge of the trees. The First Ones building gleamed in the daylight and as Catra had reported, the door stood open. The path leading up to it was straight and wide and clear of snow. As they watched, snow blew onto it and as it settled, it started to melt and the water slid to the side. 

“OK, how is that heated?” Glimmer said quietly. 

“Don’t know,” Bow said as he looked at his tracker pad. “I don’t detect any signals except what the sensors are picking up from the Heart. I say we go in.”

Catra lay in the snow with her binoculars fixed on the door listening to the quiet conversation before saying, “It’s dark inside but it looks like it goes down like the Crystal Castle does. So I go in first, look around, and come back.” 

“No, not again. We all go in together,” Adora said. “Because if anything is in there it might listen to me but it’ll probably see you all as intruders like the Crystal Castle would no matter what you say or do.” 

Catra looked over at Adora and gave a frustrated sigh and said, “OK, you’re right. Let’s get this over with. Same formation.”

“Catra, no, I have to go first,” Adora said. “And you know I do.”

For a split second, Adora was sure that Catra was going to argue with her but she just gave a defeated grunt. 

“Fine, but I’m right behind you,” Catra replied. 

“Well let’s stop laying in the snow and get in there,” Glimmer said. 

The four walked into the clearing and Catra absolutely would not let them anywhere near the clear path so they ended up slogging through the snow instead. They were quickly in front of the door and they could feel a slight warm breeze coming out of it and see a ramp going down into a hallway and then the hallway going away out of sight. They all stood there in silence waiting on Adora who seemed rooted to the spot.

“Hey, Adora,” Bow said. “You’ve got this. The Best Friends Squad is here for you.” 

Adora gave a weak smile, took a deep breath, and stepped over the threshold and onto the ramp and stopped for a moment. Nothing happened. After a few minutes of more standing, nothing continued to happen. 

Finally, Adora began walking down and Catra, true to her word, was directly behind her. Bow and Glimmer followed along behind. As they entered the dark hallway it began to light up. 

“They really built these places to last, didn’t they?” Glimmer said as the familiar purple crystalline walls glowed to life. 

“I hope not,” Catra said as she unconsciously retracted and extended her claws again and again.

Soon they walked into a room with several consoles and chairs placed around. It looked like a dead end, there were no other doors in the room except the one they had walked through. Adora stood in front of one and placed her hand on a spot that looked like it’d do something. Nothing happened. 

“You usually have to say something I’ve noticed,” Bow said. 

“And sometimes you have to put in some key or something like that to start it,” Glimmer said. 

“Oh wonderful, so we might have to find some key that could have been missing for who knows how many years and might not even be on this planet?” Catra said. 

Adora kept her hand in place and started saying things, “Hello? Administrator here. Turn on? Etheria? Heart project?”

She stopped and looked at the others who just shrugged at her. 

“It’s got to be something,” Adora said. “I want to try some other words but I’m afraid of triggering something we don’t want. I do not want to fight spiders again without a Light Hope to appeal to.” 

At the words Light Hope, the console Adora stood at lit up and a figure stood before it. Everyone jumped back and Catra gave a shout. The figure before the console looked similar to Light Hope that Adora remembered but less boxy and angular and more flowing, closer to a human figure. 

“Light Hope protocol activated. Administrator detected. Please state your name,” the figure said. 

“Ummm, She-Ra,” Adora replied. 

“I do not recognize your name Administrator. I will set up a new account for you,” the figure said. “I detect three others in the room with you but they do not register as administrators. Are they cleared?”

“Yes, they are cleared. Clear and free. Definitely clear. Like water,” Adora said before cutting herself off. 

“I shall grant them guest access,” the figure said. “I show it has been 5.65 x 10 to the eight minutes since I was last activated. Do you require updates?” 

Adora nodded as if the number made sense to her and said, “Yes, please, ummm, tell me an update.” 

“There are many updates. Which would you like a report on?” the figure said. 

Bow came up behind Adora and whispered in her ear, “Ask Other Light Hope here for a list of main projects.”

“Give me a list of main projects, please?” Adora said.

“Certainly,” Other Light Hope said. “This facility serves one main project. That is Project Heart.” 

“What’s the status of that project?” Adora said. 

“Since the accident and idling of the primary, the project is currently listed as on hold and awaiting further input,” Other Light Hope said.

Catra came up close to Adora and stood right behind her. “I don’t like the sound of accident,” Catra said. 

“Me either,” Adora said. “Ummm, can you give me some details on the accident, please?”

“Certainly. Accessing report on Accident #HA-0112. Accident #HA-0112 happened on day thirty-five after the completion of Project Milestone #HA-3: Full Activation of Primary Heart, during efforts to complete Project Milestone #HA-4: Full Activation of Secondary Heart,” Other Light Hope began in a calm voice. “Acting Project Manager Nicole reported that the primary Heart located at this facility was successfully pulling in magical energy and converting it to power and was feeding it the secondary Heart at the secondary site in preparation for full activation of that Heart on day thirty-seven. They reported that at time stamp D35 01.9264 the facility lost contact on all channels with the secondary facility. 

“At time stamp D35 01.9267 monitoring satellites showed a large fireball rising from the secondary facility location. Emergency protocols were initiated by Project Manager Kole at this time. At time stamp D35 01.9436 it is recorded that an extremely strong shockwave was felt through the ground. Acting Project Manager Nicole reports that Project Manager Kole left the console room to go and make sure everyone on the surface was able to get underground to safety. They report that this is the last that Project Manager Kole was seen by any survivors. Acting Project Manager Nicole announced that Project Manager Kole was deceased, took command and began deactivation procedures of the primary Heart at time stamp D35 02.3700. They also report that it is assumed that all personnel left on the surface in this quadrant were deceased and are listed as such at the same time stamp with a footnote to indicate the uncertainty of the time frame.

“As ejected debris falling back to the planet and fire storms were making the planetary surface in this quadrant increasingly hostile to life, they and their team began to set the primary Heart to idle with the power the magic created safely bleeding off instead of performing a full shut down due to lack of time. During this time frame, Acting Project Manager Nicole reports that other personnel in the facility were deceased but they are not able to give an exact time stamp for each one as they were not sure of the precise moment of death. Their deaths are all recorded as occurring at the following time stamp with a footnote to indicate the uncertainty of the time frame for each . 

“At time stamp D35 07.1978 Acting Project Manager Nicole ordered final backups of all reports, data, and other project files and evacuation of all on-planet personnel to orbit. They filed this report from orbit through the planetwide communication array that was still accessible and gave the idle order to me. Estimated loss of life from all on planet personnel is estimated at ninety percent or six thousand seven hundred and fifty people with most being listed at the final time stamp. Lists of the deceased and the missing but presumed deceased personnel as well as the personnel files of both are appended to this report as well as related imagery from the accident. Do you wish to review the appended information?” 

Everyone stood silently in shock and tears, the calm voice of the Light Hope figure and preciseness of the report language somehow making the account even more horrifying. Adora managed to say no as tears streamed down her face. She remembered the large crater that she had spotted from orbit and realized that the mystery of it was not a mystery anymore. Adora turned away and the first person she saw was Catra. 

“That’s enough,” Catra said in a quivering voice to Adora as she grabbed Adora's hand. “We’re leaving now.”

“All those people,” Adora said quietly as she looked down at Catra’s hands in hers.

“Have been gone for a long time,” Catra said sharply. As Adora jerked her head up with angry astonishment in her eyes, Catra continued, “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be heartless but there’s nothing we can do for them.”

“We can make sure this is finished for good,” Adora said with quiet determination. 

“No!” Catra said as she pulled her hands away and crossed them across her chest. “Adora, I love you, but there is no reason to do this! You heard that! Sure, it didn’t risk the universe but it sure wasn’t a firecracker! And they built it so they knew what it was! What are we going to do? Tinker with it, go whoops, and then disappear into a fireball!?”

“I can’t just let this be here! I have to do something! I won’t let it sit around for the next person to stumble on and risk them!” Adora shouted back at Catra. Adora turned around so she could ask Other Light Hope a question.

“Yeah, I thought you would,” Catra said with sadness in her voice and tears in her eyes as she unzipped her coat and hesitatingly began to put her left hand under it. 

“OK, OK, everyone! Stop!” Glimmer shouted. “Other Light Hope here said something I don’t think you caught!” 

Bow had a sudden moment of realization as he realized what Glimmer was talking about. “Wait, they only set it to idle.”

“Instead of completely deactivating it,” Glimmer completed for him. “And only because it was too dangerous to stay because of the disaster!” 

Catra took her hand out of her coat as Adora turned around and Catra said slowly with dawning horror of what she had almost done, “Which means there’s a way to completely deactivate it safely.”

“And the system is still responding and…, umm, Catra what..,” Adora said with narrowed eyes as she saw Catra pulling her hand out of her jacket.

Catra hung her head in shame as Adora stepped forward and opened up her coat to reveal a Horde stun baton hanging in a makeshift harness under her right arm. 

“You were serious!?” Adora shouted. 

Catra couldn’t meet her eyes as tears spilled out of her eyes and she managed to say, “I don’t want to lose you.” 

“And you think this will help?” Adora said as she let the coat fall shut and stepped back.

“I figured I’d rather you be alive and hate me, then be dead and gone,” Catra said. 

“Then you talk to me. You! Talk! To! Me! You don’t do… this!” Adora said gesturing at the covered baton. 

“I’m sorry,” Catra said in a tiny voice. 

“No. Don’t. Just give it to me, right now,” Adora said sternly with her hand out. 

Catra moved so fast that it surprised Adora. Before Adora could react, Catra had the baton out and reversed and placed the handle in Adora’s hand. Catra still wouldn’t look up as Adora took the baton and looked down at it in her hand. 

“This isn’t OK, Catra,” Adora said in a sad voice as she looked down at the baton. “But we’re going to work on this. We’re partners now. We work together and we don’t keep secrets.”

Catra nodded and said, “You’re right. So I should probably tell you that Melog is standing out in the corridor and they’re the reason I was able to get up and down the hill so quickly. I thought I’d hold them back as a secret reserve.” 

“Why would you even keep that a secret!? What is going on!?” Adora said in angered confusion.

“I don’t know! I just felt I should! I guess I’m more broken than I thought,” Catra said as she looked up at Adora in fear. Adora stepped forward and looked Catra in the eye. 

“That’s not an excuse, Catra! I want you to know right now that I absolutely do not forgive you for this and I swear if you ever do something like this again, I will leave you. I don’t care where we are, I will leave even if it’s a deserted planet. Because I will not put up with it. I do not deserve it,” Adora said. “Do you understand me?” 

Catra nodded her head and said quietly, “Yes.”

“But I do love you, with all of my brokenness to match yours,” Adora said with a sigh as she sat the baton down on a chair, began to cry, and stepped forward to wrap Catra up in her arms.

“I love you too,” Catra said crying, holding tight to Adora. The room was silent except for the sound of their tears as the two embraced, rocking back and forth slightly.

After a little bit of time Catra stepped back and wiped the tears from her eyes and said, “I’m sorry, I should have trusted you.”

Adora stepped back herself and said sadly, “Yes, you should have.”

Adora picked up the baton and stepped forward to hold it out to Catra who turned her head away, “Here, you can have this back.”

Catra, still not looking, just shook her head.

“You might need it for something else,” Adora said. 

Catra shook her head again. As she realized Adora wasn’t going to put it down she took it and said, “No, I won’t.” 

Catra turned to the hallway and said, “Melog, would you come here, please?” 

Melog appeared in the doorway as Catra held the baton out and said, “Run this out to the forest for me. Drop it somewhere and then forget where it is. Don’t ever tell me.”

Melog took the baton in their mouth and left at a run up the hallway and was soon out of sight. Adora sighed as Bow and Glimmer stepped forward from the corner they had backed into during the argument. 

“So, is everything OK?” Bow tentatively asked. 

Adora stepped up to Catra and gave her a small kiss on the forehead as she said, “No, it’s not. But it’s just one more obstacle and if it’s one thing we do, it’s overcome obstacles.”

“Well that was incredibly awkward,” Glimmer said in a forced upbeat tone, trying, and failing, to make a joke. “So, ummm, what are we doing?” 

Catra sighed and said, “I guess we try and find out what it takes to shut this thing all the way off.” 

They ended up staying at the First Ones building for three days as a blizzard raged outside. Darla landed in the field out front but at one point on the first day of the blizzard it became so bad that they chose to stay in the underground control room as it raged. They ran some supplies to the control room from Darla and the last trip was so rough they could barely stand and could only be heard by shouting over the screaming wind throwing snow everywhere. They managed to close the door to the control room so while it never got incredibly warm, it at least stayed at tolerable levels. They’d found the old bunk rooms, along with other rooms, once Other Light Hope had opened the well concealed doors in the control room. The bunk rooms were filled with a few scattered belongings and collapsed beds and none of the Squad stayed in any of them for long. It felt too much like standing in a tomb. They slept in the control room instead. 

Catra and Adora spent the evenings away in a corner having long serious talks while Melog, grown to a large size and acting like a wall to give them privacy, sat beside them. Bow had brought his mandolin and the room felt a little better with the simple tunes he’d pluck out. Glimmer was the most cheerful and calm of them all as she played endless rounds of solitaire. She remembered the long days alone and trapped in a room on Horde Prime’s ship with nothing and to her this waiting for the storm to subside, with her friends and something to do, seemed like nothing. 

During the days they worked on the problem of the Heart. On the first day, Adora had queried Other Light Hope on procedures for shutting the Heart completely off. As they realized that the normal procedure would take way more people than they had, everyone started brainstorming ideas on how to manage it with Adora feeding their ideas into Other Light Hope and having her run simulations on each. Towards the end of the blizzard it began to be obvious that they had a solution. As the blizzard finally blew out, they were ready and put the plan into action. 

They hooked Darla up and introduced her to Other Light Hope. Darla was the key to this they had realized. She could run the all main controls in the console room by herself with Other Light Hope giving assistance while the rest went below to the Heart’s chamber and managed the part there. So finally, after running one last check, Adora had Other Light Hope open the doors all the way down to the chamber. The four all walked down, Glimmer and Bow in front with Adora and Catra walking together holding hands as Melog trotted beside them.

“So, monsters or Shadow Weaver? Which do you think we’ll run into?” Catra said as they walked.

Adora smiled. It had only been since that morning that they’d felt comfortable making jokes together again. 

“Well Other Light Hope said there were no guardians since this had been a test facility and if Shadow Weaver is here then I think you and I will have some serious questions for her,” Adora said. 

“Yeah, like can she do the disappearing into flame act again,” Catra said. 

Adora didn’t respond because they were coming out into the chamber and there the Heart was, high overhead. Bow and Glimmer were awed at the slowly turning shapes that seemed to barely be a part of this reality surrounded by color and energy. Adora and Catra, involuntarily gripping each other’s hands tighter, weren’t as impressed but they still could feel the fear as they remembered being under the Heart of Etheria not so long ago but Bow had been right. If the Heart of Etheria had been a forest fire, this was barely a candle. 

“It definitely does not have the power that Etheria’s did,” Adora commented. “This thing is just kind of sitting there.”

“The Etherian one wasn’t?” Glimmer said. 

“No,” Catra said in a strained voice. “It was throwing streamers of power everywhere and was so bright you could barely look at it.”

Bow had found a console and was typing away at it as he said, “OK, Darla has said that she and Other Light Hope are ready to start the shutdown sequence. Monitor the levels like we planned, Darla will flash them yellow and red as planned if there’s a problem, and we respond accordingly. Then shut down your station once your part is done. Are we ready?” 

The other three nodded their assent and took their places. Over the next seven hours they worked. It was tense. As the Heart shut down it occasionally flared power and every time it did, Catra and Adora would jump a little. Bow and Glimmer were tense as well. They knew they were partly trusting an AI that was ancient and had been through a planetary cataclysm. 

Towards the end, Bow was the only one left at the console as the Heart was almost powered down. Suddenly, several levels jumped immediately into the red and power started arcing around the room. Adora didn’t waste a moment. 

“For the honor of Grayskull!” she shouted as she transformed into She-Ra and raised a large shield high to protect her friends as they crowded around Bow. 

“What’s happening!?” Catra shouted.

“I don’t know! It just suddenly had a surge in power!” Bow said as he rapidly tapped at a few commands. “Darla says that it’s not good but that it’s at least close to the end of the shutdown cycle so they should be able to get it under control quickly!”

Glimmer was looking at the Heart as power arced off the walls around them and she saw what looked like a long thin black line start near the top of the room and go to just above the floor. As Bow and Catra worked on the console together Glimmer could feel magic building in the room as well as a low rumbling that grew louder and louder. 

“Bow, the magic is flowing back out!” Glimmer shouted. “I can feel it! It’s not dissipating!” 

“OK, Other Light Hope is saying that’s normal at the very end but that we’re still a bit too early for it to be happening!” Bow shouted back.

As Glimmer watched she saw the thin black line start to grow wider. She realized she had seen something like this before in Hordak’s lab. She was seeing a portal opening, although slower than the first one she’d seen in the lab. 

“Bow! A portal is opening! A! PORTAL! IS! OPENING!” Glimmer shouted as she frantically pointed at it.

Bow didn’t bother to respond except to cast a quick cast over his shoulder. Catra looked and froze for a moment before Bow gave her a nudge and nodded at the board as they both continued to give commands to the two AI’s. 

“Darla says that they’re working to override four safeguards and then they’ll dump the remaining magic as energy into a power collector! She says it’ll overload the collector and definitely blow it out but that it’s two kilometers away in a hardened bunker and shouldn’t affect us! She says it’ll be in three minutes! ” Bow shouted over the noise.

Adora stood silently, fear coursing through here and tears streaming down her face, as she felt a streamer of power reflect off her shield. Bow worked with a furrowed brow, breathing heavily and Catra openly cried as she chanted over and over, “No, no, no, no, no, no.” Still she stood her ground before the console, working furiously.

Then Adora saw Glimmer out of the corner of her eye, staring straight ahead at something in the room. Adora looked around the shield and saw the portal was open wide to an empty void where one person hung, frozen. The figure’s hands were by the side of their face as if gripping onto something that was no longer there. For a moment Glimmer hadn’t recognized the person but it was only for a moment. 

“Mom?” Glimmer gasped as she covered her mouth with one hand and reached out with the other. She stood for a second before she started running across the room towards the portal.

“Glimmer!” Adora shouted as another bolt of energy bounced off the shield. She had a split second decision to make, cover Glimmer and leave Catra, Melog, and Bow exposed or stand still and leave Glimmer to her fate. 

Catra decided the matter for her. She went bounding around Adora, Melog hot on her heels, and went sprinting towards Glimmer. Before she could catch up to her though suddenly the whole room went silent and the power stopped arcing. Angella suddenly moved and looked out at them and in the utter silence of the room, everyone heard her voice as she reached her hand towards Glimmer and said in confusion, “Glimmer?”

Then, mayhem. A flash of light that seemed to have physical form and a noise like the heralding of the end of the world rocked through the room. It seemed to last forever and for no time at all at the same time and as it ended there was darkness and then only a faint rumbling could be heard and felt. Adora sat up from where she’d been thrown and saw a small white light come on and illuminate a weeping figure on the floor. Catra sat the flashlight she had lit down on the ground and crouched over Glimmer as she held her shoulders with Melog pacing back and forth beside her. Bow came shuffling forward and he and Adora walked up to the other two. In Glimmer’s hand, they all saw a single ethereal feather that was slowly fading out of existence. They all crouched on the ground and held Glimmer close.

“She was right there,” Glimmer whispered through sobs. “She was right there and I couldn’t reach her in time.” 

Nothing could be said. They simply held Glimmer as she wept. 

Several days passed. They had found the remains of the Heart in the center of the room, several solid cubes and tetrahedrons made of some metal, and the size of Horde skiffs, that had come to rest with no signs of force in the center of the room. Darla had shown them the deep crater that was left after the power collector had blown from the residual energy that had been dumped into it all at once. Other Light Hope had asked for a report and Adora had done her best to answer the AI’s questions to file a report and then, not knowing how to fully shut her down, had commanded the AI into idle mode again. Adora had felt vaguely guilty, as if she had killed her, as the AI faded away because she knew that it was incredibly unlikely that anyone would ever speak with the AI again. 

Finally, on their last day, Glimmer and Bow walked down the ramp of Mara’s Dream into the cold, bright morning air. Adora stood waiting for her with Catra by her side, linked arm in arm by the small memorial in front of the First Ones’ building that they had made for the long ago lost. They were going to try the ritual one more time. Glimmer had said the night before that she could feel a little bit of background magic in the air already and Bow had confirmed that nothing else seemed to be siphoning it off. 

“Are we ready?” Bow said as everyone gathered together. 

“Let’s do this,” Glimmer said grimly. She hadn’t smiled since the day she had seen Angella again. She’d spent an entire day in bed before coming back into the rest of the ship. Since then she’d been quiet and withdrawn, rarely speaking while the others did their best to include her in the ongoing life of the ship while also doing their best to not push her and give her time to mourn the loss of her mother all over again. 

Adora transformed and held her sword out towards Glimmer. Glimmer stepped forward and touched the runestone in the hilt of the sword with one hand. She kept her eyes shut as her hair started to stand on end and pink and purple light sparkled off the tips as a glow began building around her. After a few minutes, Glimmer opened her eyes and they had gone white and with her other hand, she began to trace a complex symbol in the air before her. It took only a few moments for it to be created and Glimmer held it for a little bit longer as her glow began to fade and the symbol itself seemed to soak up the light. Finally, Glimmer drew her arm back quickly and cast the symbol directly at the ground. It faded into the ground and for a passing moment they all felt warmth on their faces and a gentle breeze blow past. 

“Did it work?” Catra whispered after they stood for a minute in silence. 

“I don’t see anything,” Bow said. “Maybe we’ll have to take readings to be sure. It is supposed to be like a seed, right? It won’t be all at once.” 

As Adora transformed back to her regular self she looked around, hoping to see something, and then they all looked at Glimmer, who was smiling a sad smile as she said, “It worked, I can feel it churning in the ground. It kind of feels like the first time Mom helped me link with the Moonstone.”

“So now what?” Adora said. “Where do we move on to from here?” 

“We somehow broke through to Mom on accident,” Glimmer said, drawing herself up and setting her shoulders. “So now we go home and we do it on purpose. We bring her home for good.”   
  


**Author's Note:**

> First, thank you for reading my work. I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> This one was hard for me to write. The line about how Catra had a hidden stun baton was originally put in as a joke but as I went on, I realized that it absolutely was not. It came to me as I wrote that this took place not even a full year after Catra and Adora's near-death experience under the Heart of Etheria and I realized that this stress, combined with the realization that there was another one and Adora was of course going to want to do something about it, was going to push Catra into bad habits. I cried two times writing this. The first was during the accident report because I had to sit and visualize something so horrific and then condense it down into the bureaucratic language of the report. My heart broke for Acting Project Manager Nicole, their trauma, and their lost friends and co-workers. The other was the scene where Adora realized just what Catra had been about to do and their conversation about it. I did multiple passes on that conversation to try and get the feeling that Adora still loves Catra but at the same time she's not letting Catra off the hook and while also trying to make it clear that Catra wasn't just gleefully ready to commit mayhem again but felt deeply conflicted by it. I hope I pulled it off. 
> 
> The other part I didn't expect until about a quarter of the way in, and my story notes from my manuscript are IN ALL CAPS AS I REALIZED IT, was that there was a way to show Angella again. While I didn't cry, I did get a bit choked up. I almost had them get her out right then and there but I swear the angst of the moment was too much for me to resist. The image of the single disappearing feather was one that really hit me. 
> 
> In happier fic moments, Catra being a great singer is of course inspired by her voice actress, AJ Michalka, and the "song from Elberon" is, of course, Warriors from the soundtrack. I like to think the Elberon crowd sings it more like Aaliyah Rose does but Catra put her twist on it just like AJ did (I would LOVE to hear an a capella rendition like it is here by AJ or really anyone). I also like to think Catra and Bow are going to start singing and playing together on those long ship evenings. That being said, the most fun scene to write was the Horde ration bar scene. I can still see Bow's face as he tries to eat it and it makes me laugh still. 
> 
> Finally, the title is from the song Soft Universe by AURORA. The full verse is, "Chaos came, we laid our head/Down on the feather cotton bed/You find a heart and catch your breath/Let the universe go red." The verse itself doesn't have much to do with the fic except the title. I already knew I was going to have another Heart even while I was still writing my very first fic, I Am Teaching Myself How To Be Free, and right before I started on this one I heard that line and just knew it had to be the title because how could I not when it fit so well?


End file.
